"It has it's own weather system"

Check out the enormous head of broccoli we picked tonight!  Quincy was happy to show off her favorite garden treat for the camera.  Corbin was obviously frightened by the sight of such a large vegetable and can be seen running for his life in the background. 

Nesting

Today, as I walked out out onto the patio, a cardinal flew out of the kiwi bush, as usual. 
Those beautiful birds have eaten nearly every kiwi off the vine, and every time we come outside, we startle a bird out of there.

I was irritated until today, when the thought occurred to me that the reason there always seem to be birds in the kiwi plants was because there was a nest in there.

So, I stood on a chair and held the camera in the air and pointed it into the well hidden area that always seems to be full of birds.

Looks like we won't have any kiwi (again) this year, but we do have ourselves a very pretty plant and a homey home for a mama cardinal and her babies. 

I might be biased, but I think my backyard is a lovely place to three lil' chicks.

Happy Nesting, Mama Bird.

Reasoning With Reese: Don't Be Jealous

Reese: Mom, are you jealous that me and Quincy and Corbin love dad and not you?
Me: What the heck? You don't love me? Why would you say that?
Reese: No...you know what I mean, like are you jealous that we're all excited when dad comes home and we all want to sit by him and be around him and see him and stuff and then you...you know, you're just always there?
nice.

Harvested

There are massive quantities of broccoli, spinach, kale, lettuce, strawberries, and fresh herbs coming out of the garden right now.  Green beans, squash, and beets any day now!  We are loving the early harvest for spring veggies, this year.

The Best Part of My Day

Reasoning With Reese

The one where Reese finds something wrong with the universe and creeps us out a little:

Reese: Mom, isn't Great Grandma Tenney (Mima) like...90 or something?
Me: Yes, she is 91, almost 92.
Reese: Well, um...shouldn't she be dead by now? 

Later, I tried explaining how lucky we are to still have Mima with us, but she just jumped in with
"But it doesn't make any sense. She's the oldest one I know. She should be next."

and then Quincy chimed in with "Nuh UH, Dad's gonna die first. He's the oldest. Wait. Who is older, Mom?  You or Dad? That's who dies first. Ok, maybe it's Grandma or Grandpa next. They are old..."

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The one where I fess up:

While driving past NWACC
Reese: Hey look, there's your college. Why do people go to college?
Meg: To get an education.
Reese: What's that?
Meg: It means "to learn".  You don't stop learning when you grow up.  You are always learning new things, even when you aren't in school.  If you want to learn about something specific, like history or art or how to be a better speaker or something, you can learn about it at college. 

Reese: But why did YOU go to college?
Meg: Because I wanted to learn some new things.  I got to read a lot of books for one class, and I learned about how to be a better teacher in another class, and...
Reese: Yeah, but you don't need college for that stuff. You already know everything. Right?

(Yeah. I was pretty tempted to say, "Right!" and end the convo there. I did the right thing and sold myself out as a non all-knowing being to my child.  At least I hope it was the right thing. She's only 7...seems like I should have gotten away with "knowing everything" for at least a few more years.)

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The one where Reese uses brilliance and logic to charm her way out of doing chores:
Reese: Ugh. It is always going to be like this? Where you tell me, "Quincy is only 5", and that's why she doesn't have the same rules or have to help clean our room as much? 

Me: You will always be 2 years older than Quincy, so...yes, I think so. You always have at least a few different rules because you are different children with different talents, but also because you are different ages.  Get used to that answer, because you will probably hear it again.

Reese: Well then can't you start using that answer for me, too? Someday, I will be 9, but today I'm only 7, so you could make it a little easier for me too, so I don't have to help as much, either. 
Me: laughs, why would I make it easier? You have rules for a 7 year old Reese, not a 5 year old Quincy.  She isn't you. You each get your own rules and chores.

Reese: Because if you said I don't have to help clean up sometimes, that would make it fair.  I'm always gonna be 2 years older than Quincy, but today I am two years younger than the 9 year old myself.  That isn't fair that you say, "Quincy is only 5, you are two years older" and not "Reese is only 7"

Backyard Bathing

The kids have been spending a lot of time in the backyard, latley, since the weather has been so nice.
Their current favorite thing to do is play with bubbles in the water table. 



 Sometimes they play with cars or plastic characters in the bubbles.  Sometimes it is Barbie and her mermaid friends having a pool party.  Sometimes they just get rags and sponges and "wash" their bikes and the slide.  Sometimes they wash themselves or make bubble beards. 

If they stay out there long enough, Corbin inevitably finds the hose and convinces one of his sisters to turn on the water.
He sprayes everyone down.
I hear screaming and squealing.
Everyone ends up soaked and blames someone else for "getting them soakin' wet". 
I shrug and figure soap + water counts for a bath.  They come in and put on dry pajamas and we call it good. 

PS- chickens do not like being bathed with bubble water by children.
In case you were wondering.
PPS- my favorite things about these pictures are Quincy's flip flops on the wrong feet and her hand selected white on white outfit with her shorts rolled 3 times at the waist.